A ceremony at Leiden’s Naturalis Biodiversity Center on Friday finalized an accord between Dutch Education, Culture and Science Minister Gouke Moes and Indonesian Culture Minister Fadli Zon to return the 28,000-piece Dubois Collection to Indonesia. The hand-over represented “the largest archaeological restitution in Dutch history and the opening of a new chapter in cultural diplomacy,” Dutch officials said, according to Reuters.
Dutch anatomist and geologist Eugène Dubois excavated the fossils on Java from 1888 to 1900 using convict labor while the archipelago was still the Dutch East Indies. Although the material remained state property in Batavia, authorities shipped it to Europe, where it became a cornerstone of paleoanthropological research.
Early this year the Dutch Independent Colonial Collections Committee concluded that the fossils had been removed against the will of local communities and urged unconditional restitution, the Dutch education ministry said.
At the core of the trove sit the skull cap, molar, and femur of “Java Man,” the first fossil evidence of Homo erectus documented by modern science in 1891. The discovery challenged prevailing theories about human origins and provided what Dubois believed was the “missing link” between apes and humans.
Committee researchers found that villagers were coerced into revealing fossil deposits despite the bones’ spiritual and economic importance. Indonesian officials echoed that judgment, calling the return a corrective to a historical wrong.
The Dubois Collection joins a growing list of items Western nations have sent back to former colonies, including hundreds of Benin Bronzes the Netherlands returned to Nigeria and the gold-capped tooth of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba Belgium handed over in 2022.
“The thorough advice has provided new legal insights, making return the right choice,” said Naturalis director Marcel Beukeboom.
“This is a step toward healing historical wounds,” said Zon, adding that the move affirms Indonesia’s ownership while keeping global research access intact.
The two governments formed a joint team to manage inventory, conservation, digitization, and exhibition once the crates reach Indonesia. “The transfer will be carried out rigorously and orderly,” said Moes, stressing that the fossils should remain available to scientists worldwide.
Naturalis has not yet announced shipping dates, though Indonesian institutions such as the Sangiran Museum—a UNESCO World Heritage site near Dubois’s original Trinil dig—said they were ready to receive the material.
Some Dutch historians questioned Indonesia’s capacity to protect the archive, citing a fire at Jakarta’s National Museum and past thefts. “Doubts over local expertise come down to a colonial argument,” countered Indonesian-Dutch historian Sadiah Boonstra, who told NOS that the Netherlands “has nothing more to say about it.”
The restitution coincided with President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to the Netherlands, where he met King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, an event diplomats framed as evidence of deepening ties eight decades after Indonesia’s 1945 independence proclamation and the Netherlands’ 1949 recognition.
“Welcome home again, Pithecanthropus erectus!” said paleoanthropologist Harry Widianto, inviting researchers to study the fossils in situ.
“The committee’s advice was based on extensive and thorough research,” said Moes. Zon called the return “the restoration of a disrupted chain of cultural heritage,” noting that the narrative of human evolution now circles back to the Solo River banks where Dubois first lifted a fragment of skull 134 years ago.